IE1000 Understanding Italy

The seminar is an introduction to Italian culture, society and politics. The aim is two-fold: 1) provide students with introductory knowledge of multiple issues related to Italian culture in a historical and comparative perspective; 2) offer students the opportunity to develop a theme of personal interest or related to the discipline of their major, defined in agreement with the Professor.

- get a basic notion of how any "culture" can be approached from multiple angles
- be encouraged to relate their experience abroad to academic texts and questions
- learn how to situate cultures in time and space
- experiment communicating a research project on a foreign culture to a multicultural audience in an academic context
- write a paper following specific criteria, learning how to problematise and complexify the initial question
- if applicable, rethink elements of the students' own cultures, starting from questions, which emerged in the Italian context
 

The course will cover the following issues: 1) the Country of Dolce Vita (Sweet Way of Life): Italy as the land of art, beauty, fashion, design, love, food, family and mothers; 2) the Country of Labour: Italy as a land of emigrants, workers and unions, industries, industrial districts and enterpreneurs and new immigrants; 3) the Country of Unstable Democracy: a recently built nation State, which faced a conflict with the Church, gave birth to Fascism, had a “blocked” political system from 1945 to 1994 (with the largest western Communist Party) and saw the rise of Berlusconi, Beppe Grillo, Matteo Renzi and Matteo Salvini; 4) the Country of Regions and Cities: national identity issues, the North-South divide, the Mafia as a Southern and a national question, city-identity, Northern and Southern independentism and devolution.

Introductory knowledge shall be achieved through four lectures, in which the Professor shall discuss some of the main points of Italian modern culture, also with the use of audiovisual materials. Students are expected to read two articles chosen from the courseblog and submit written synthesis and comments of minimum 500, maximum 1.000 words. Participants in the class with special interests may identify alternative academic readings in agreement with the Professor.

Students are expected to submit a proposal for the theme of interest and a draft of a possible index. The theme can range from Literature to Economics, from Religion to Law etc., but it must remain related to issues raised in class or in the readings and related to understanding Italy. Such theme will be developed in two ways:
- producing an oral presentation;
- writing a research paper.
The presentation is meant to be a draft of the research in progress and represents the students’ contribution to the class. Other participants are expected to attend and participate to the discussion of presentations of fellow students.
The paper should be based on further thought and readings, considering feedbacks made after the oral presentations. It should be based on multiple sources and contain footnotes or punctual references, making the process of research transparent. Plagiarism will be a cause for failing the course. Preference should be given to academic sources.
The research paper will be sent via e-mail to the Professor (luca.pes@univiu.org). The Professor will be available to students throughout the semester via email for advice and assistance in the research.

CLASSES AND DEADLINES

35% oral presentation; 45% written paper; 20% e-comments, attendance and participation in class during lectures and discussion of other participants’ oral presentations.